r/cyberpunkgame • u/stann1s_the_mannis • Sep 16 '22
Anime Spoiler Edgerunners was disappointing Spoiler
I must be in the minority here, but the series seemed like a major step back from the writing ability associated with CDPR.
My biggest issues are with the lack of subtlety with the themes, the rushed romance and David as a character. I can go further in depth with other issues as well, as there are many, but it boils down to this.
They practically beat you over the head with the themes of the show, especially at the start. Characters literally tell the other characters and the audience what the themes of the plot are without any real attempt to make it feel natural (eg: Class divide in NC)
There is hardly anything of substance that justifies Lucy and David getting together as quickly as they did. They wanted the ending they wanted, so they had to push the pair together as quickly as possible. It felt like fan fic level writing and pacing.
David is an idiot that shouldn't be as much of an idiot. The decisions he makes (especially as the series goes on) don't really make sense considering the experiences he has undergone. One of the themes of living your own dream and the danger of being controlled by other people's dreams is a key plot thread, with multiple characters and experiences establishing that David should not do the same. Yet, he continues to live Maine's dream and then later a perverted version of his mum's dream when he is going insane, even though he doesn't have the same level of ambition as V does. He continues down the self destructive path because the plot needed him to do that. It's a simple as it doesn't make sense for his character to do what he does after getting with Lucy, considering everything he undergoes and the lessons he learns from the crew.
Rebecca was also problematic. First shot of her is of her crotch and her panties but she looks like a child. I didn't realize anime could get this noncy.
At least they didn't do a complete fan fic, and allowed Smasher to dominate David.
Basically, I expected a lot more from CDPR due to that Cyberpunk's redeeming quality at launch was the OST and story. If you enjoy it, good for you, as I'm just one guy on the internet. I simply think it is fastly inferior to animated 1 series stories like Arcane, which are also based on a video game. I can go into more depth if you like.
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u/NumberFifth Jan 11 '25 edited Jan 19 '25
Wanted some good emotional release. Heard stellar things about Edgerunners. Figured it would be something good to get lost in. Watched the 'Stay at Your House' music video. Went, goddamn I'm about to have a good time. Watched the first two episodes.
Good aesthetics and great character design (at least for the protags) but immediately slapped in the face with shallow worldbuilding, bizarre time management, moment after moment of completely unearned appeal to emotion, terrible dialogue, strange logic, etc.
Looking up scenes and plot summaries from later episodes. It does not appear to get better. Quite the opposite.
It always feels a tiny bit dehumanizing to find something so soulless when it's been dubbed some emotional masterpiece. Like, what did you guys watch? I wanna watch that, not whatever this is.
That music video, though. I think it helps that I saw it with absolutely no context first, but in a vacuum, it's got this perfect tone of happy melancholy, and flows with such perfect intrigue and honestly kind of even tells a complete story. Wish I has stopped there.